A TEENAGE paedophile who subjected a young relative to years of abuse escaped being publicly named and shamed after two top judges banned his identification.

The teenager, who lives in the Loughborough area, appeared at the Court of Appeal on Thursday, December 18, complaining about the 15-month sentence he received for more than two years of abusing the pre-teen girl.

At his trial, the abusive 19-year-old put his young victim through the ordeal of giving evidence about their sordid games of cards, where the girls losing forfeits involved touching his private parts.

In July he was convicted of seven sample counts of sexual activity with a child and seven more of causing a child to engage in sexual activity at Leicester Crown Court.

He unsuccessfully appealed his sentence, but succeeded in convincing Mr Justice Forbes and Mr Justice Pitchford that his identity should not be made public.

His lawyers argued that the reporting restriction was necessary to protect his victim and the judges ordered that only anonymised reports could be published.

This decision is rare in courts, where the public interest in knowing the identity of offenders is normally upheld by orders banning only details which identify sex crime victims.

Mr Justice Pitchford told the court that the girl had been badly affected psychologically by the ordeal.

From 11 years-old she was abused by the teenager at his home when her parents were away, with the abuser persuading her to touch him and allow him to touch her indecently.

His crimes only came to light when he sent the girl a graphic text message enticing her to engage in much more serious sexual activity.

She told her mother and the abuse was reported, but the teenager refused to admit what he had done until he was awaiting sentence after being found guilty.

Lawyers for the youth argued in court that 15 months was too long, since the vast majority of his offending had occurred before he was an adult. But Mr Justice Pitchford said that they had taken into account everything that was necessary in arriving at the 15-month term.